Watch the Throne

   Well, my compact camera died recently, and my non-compact camera is too big to drag in to a concert, so I put the Blackberry cam through its paces. And while the quality is poor, at least these images give you a sense of the production value of this show, and it will help me recall how amazing it was!

   More details to come... it was an odd and awesome night, that started with a chance meeting of a woman who is basically ME at age 60+, the equally mind-blowingly good show, and the "after-party", which for me, meant being involved in a car accident. Quite a night! 

   In short, this was one of the best shows I've seen, and though their joint album hasn't been my favorite, this show helped me see how great it really is, and their solo work was extremely enjoyable, accompanied by vibrant and haunting video of vicious dogs, sharks on the hunt, big cats on the prowl, raptors soaring through the heavens, and more! Two smaller cubical stages opposite each other rose unexpectedly from the floor, and video was projected on all sides of them, as well as on the main screen. They were used to full effect for complimentary and mirrored images, often synched with the sound. Enjoy some Jay-Z and Kanye love:

Playlist (as much as I can remember!):

H.a.m.

I can't stop (sharks)

Jesus Walks

Welcome to the Jungle (tigers, lions, panthers)

Power

Flashing Lights

Run This Town

Monster

Made in America

Empire State of Mind

Flashing Lights

On to the Next One

Heartless

Runaway

All falls down

Dirt off your Shoulder

I just wanna love you

Monster

Diamonds from Sierra Leone

New day

Hard knock life

Izzo (H.O.V.A.)

Church in the wild

Gotta have it

Who gon stop me

Good Life

Touch the sky

All of the lights (restarted 3x due to technical problems; Kanye said, "Wait, wait. Hol'up! I said ALL of the lights! I just want everyone to get what they paid for!"

Big Pimpin'

Gold Digger

99 Problems

Louie armstrong's What a Wonderful World (juxtaposed with disturbing video footage, which made it very creepy! Young child in KKK uniform surrounded by proud adults, burning crosses, people donning gas masks, dogs fighting, and a mushroom cloud, among others)


And the encore: N***** in Paris, which they played about 7 times! (I know that sounds tedious, but it wasn't: they raised the energy in the arena successively and it got better & better!)

I Am Still Music

    When I returned from Alaska, I found my ticket for the upcoming Lil' Wayne concert, with guests Rick Ross, Keri Hilson, Far East Movement and Lloyd. SO. SUPER. EXCITED. The only one I've seen live before is Lloyd, and he puts on an amazing show. What a coup to get all these names together!

I ♥ BEP + Luda + LMFAO

Allyson, Maureen, Terry & I went to the show together tonight. But first things first: dinner at Extra Virgin! I love sharing tapas for dinner, and EV never disappoints. We had the marinated mixed olives, Lebanese hummus, hearts of palm & cress salad with cilantro-avocado dressing (I need to reverse-engineer that!), Spanish meatballs, shrimp al ajillo, baked Maine mussels, & wood-grilled octopus. Everything was amazing but the hanger steak with Romesco & pickled onion was the hands-down favorite. We decided to start up a dinner club (and I'm going to hold you to that, Maureen!) Applebee's, here we come!

Then, on to the Sprint Center. This was my first time inside, and what a show to start with!

LMFAO opened & were fantastic. Now I'm extra-super-kicking myself for not driving to St. Louis to see them back in January. Their set was way too short. They brought filthy lyrics, afros & awesomely bad 8-bit graphics. What's not to like?
Then Luda took the stage. He sounded great live, though the sound was turned up so loud that it was difficult to make out the lyrics. There was much booty-shaking from scantily-clad girls in leather. My dream did not come true: Justin Bieber & Taio Cruz did not make surprise appearances to do "Baby" and "Break Your Heart." (You can pretend you don't like Justin, but we both know you're lying. Oh yes you are.)
The crowd went insane when BEP appeared, particularly Fergie. Each song featured its own light & video, the group had more costume changes than Diana Ross, and the dancers were alternately dressed like robots, Dada, space people and whores. (Who would've expected a nod to Ultraman?!) す〜ごい！！！

Taboo rode an illuminated flying motorcycle over the crowd (remind me to get one of those):

They appeared & disappeared in plumes of smoke:

And each of the four took turns delivering solo performances:

Then came back together to ride it out to the confetti-filled finale:

Generally I prefer seeing bands at smaller venues for the more intimate setting and better sound quality, but a stadium like Sprint Center is really the only place to see a supergroup like the Black Eyed Peas! Not only was the music great, the energy level of the performers & the crowd were high, and the light show & videos were probably the best I've ever seen. Here's the setlist (thanks, Mom!):P.S. Do yourself a favor & skip reading Tim Finn's asinine review in the KC Star on 3/27.
He accused the BEP of pandering to "the lowest common denominator." He probably also hates babies and puppies and despises having a good time.